A Christmas Tale
by Zetta
Summary: MWPP and Lily gather for Christmas. Featuring treedecorating, putting up the outside lights in the snow, opening presents, a Christmas feast, Marauder Mischief, and a bit of Mistletoe. December '04 Moonthly Challenge from the lazymwppwriters.


A Christmas Tale  
By Zetta  
Disclaimer: Not mine.  
Rating: PG-13 for a few little things, nothing too bad.   
Summary: MWPP and Lily gather for Christmas. Featuring tree-decorating, putting up the outside lights in the snow, opening presents, a Christmas feast, Marauder Mischief, and a bit of Mistletoe. December '04 Moonthly Challenge from the lazymwppwriters.

Requirements:  
**"Moon" (the word)** (it's in there, but barely.)**  
Set in winter**

Options (pick 3):  
**A Muggle carol sung with magical words (such as "God Rest Ye Happy Hippogriffs") - Can be title only, or can be the entire filk.**  
An old-fashioned wassail - complete with hot alcoholic drink  
**Snowman/Snowangel/Snow-witch/etc.**  
**Kiss under the mistletoe**  
Ghost  
A clabbert/treeful of clabberts (See Fantastic Beasts for more on Clabberts)  
**Snowball/snow fight**  
Holly/Ivy/Any type of evergreen  
Something strange/remarkable happening in the night sky.

**Happy****Christmas****Happy****Christmas****Happy****Christmas**

The table was set with Lily's best china, and the scent of delicious smelling food wafted through the air, making ever mouth in the room water. This was helped, of course, by the fact that the four men were all terrible cooks, and tended to live off of pizza and frozen foods.

Three of the four men who'd been invited over to dinner were gathered in the front room, drinking wine and chatting cheerfully, while their hostess and her husband were in the kitchen finishing up the last minute details.

Wine had already been served, and James had poured each of them a glass. Peter and Lily were the only ones still on their first, though Remus had yet to take sip of his second. Sirius and James were well into their third glass, and Sirius was eyeing the bottle with the obvious goal of snagging it again.

The Christmas tree was in the corner, waiting to be decorated, and two boxes of ornaments were stacked next to it, along with a pile of garland and a box of candles.

Muggle Christmas music played on the record player, and Sirius sang tunelessly along with it, changing the lyrics to the ones he knew, including his all time favorite, 'God Rest Ye Happy Hippogriffs'.

Hand in hand, Lily and James walked out of the kitchen, pausing to kiss under the mistletoe before taking their seats on the loveseat.

"Happy Christmas to all," Remus said. "May this be our best yet!" He raised his glass, and they all leaned forward to touch their glasses before sipping some of the wine.

"Can we do presents yet?" Sirius asked impatiently. He was seated on the floor, a bright red cap with white trimmings placed at a jaunty angle on his head. He'd already gone through and neatly stacked up gifts in order of who they went to.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Not until morning, as we've told you several times, little one."

Sirius rolled his eyes and took another drink. "Thanks for having us over again, Lil," he said. "I wasn't looking forward to eating canned soup and boxed mashed potatoes for another night in a row. Especially not on Christmas."

James made a face. "Soup and... that's rather disgusting, Siri."

"It's good, and it's the only thing I've figured out how to make. Muggle stoves are tough."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I told you exactly how to use one, and I even gave you recipes."

He rolled his eyes back. "And I watched you cook and nodded a lot and then went out for pizza."

The boys found this amusing.

Lily leaned against James. "Sirius is being a git, dear."

James slipped an arm around her and kissed her forehead. "Is this a surprise, love?"

"I should probably be offended," Sirius muttered. "But considering the couple it's coming from..."

Lily drew her wand and levitated several strand of garland, and began wrapping them around him.

He watched, irritation on his face, but made no move to push it off.

Peter reached over and crabbed a string of crimson beads and began wrapping them around Sirius as well.

"Do I look like a Christmas tree?" Sirius asked, glaring at him.

Remus pulled a box towards him, went through it for a moment, the pulled out the tree top. He floated it above Sirius's head. "Now you do."

James snickered.

Sirius began pushing the garland and beads off of him. "Enough of this nonsense," he said. "Let's get this part over with so we can eat."

"What's for dinner, anyway?" Peter asked. "It smells fantastic."

James covered his wife's ears. "Wait 'til you taste it," he said, making a face.

Lily laughed and pushed his hands away. "James Potter, quit insulting my cooking unless you want to start, are we clear?"

He kissed her again. "Perfectly."

He rolled his eyes once she'd turned away, but Lily dug her elbow into his side until he began squirming.

The other three exchanged amused looks. "I never thought he'd be the first to go," Sirius sighed. "I figured that one of you two was sure to go first."

"The first to go?" Lily asked, unamused. "Go where?"

"Into marital bliss," Sirius said with a straight face. "Of course."

"I'll remember to remind you of your humor when it's your turn," James said. "Now, I'm with Peter, and dinner smells wonderful, so lets get this bloody tree done with."

Lily gave him an irritated look. "Don't say that on Christmas."

"Say what?"

"Bloody."

"You just said it."

"Right. I can say what I want. You're not allowed to."

"Somehow that doesn't seem quite fair to me."

"Who cares if it's fair as long as I win?"

"Good point. Must be why you married me."

"Since it's Christmas," Lily said. "I won't argue."

"Like she'd argue any other day," Sirius muttered as he pulled himself to his feet, tossing the tree-top to Peter. "All right, I've got dibs on the lights."

"I want white ones," Lily said. "Not the colored ones."

James protested. "But I like the colored ones."

She stood up, stretching, and gave him a smirk. "Then you can put the colored ones up outside in the cold. Where I can't see them." She started to go get a box, then turned. "And I don't want any blinking lights either."

"She's so mean," James grumbled, standing up. "Okay, which one of you is going to help me put the lights up outside?"

Peter stretched out, looking very comfortable. He remained quiet, suddenly studying the tree top with great interest.

Remus suddenly found the box of ornaments in front of him to be very interesting.

Sirius smirked and went back to stringing the clear lights around the tree.

Lily gave him a look. "You can handle it, dear. But no magic- the neighbors said they'd be home tonight."

James looked very irritated as he turned and went to get a cloak and scarf.

"He's going to fall off the roof," Sirius predicted cheerfully.

"He forgot the lights," Lily said, also rather cheerfully.

Remus and Peter exchanged amused looks, then reached for the lights and took a bulb from each of the strings. And then Sirius tossed them a bulb to replace them. "It'll make 'em blink," he explained happily.

"Lil, where are the lights?" James asked, returning to the room and buttoning his cloak up.

He gave Peter a suspicious look when Peter handed him several strings. Peter shrugged. "They were in the box," he explained.

James still didn't look like he believed him, but accepted them. "Where do you want them, and what do you want done?"

"Where ever you like, whatever you like," Lily answered. "Just keep it simple."

She was turned away from him, and didn't see the raised eyebrow or the smirk. "Whatever you say, dear."

"I thought he was the deer," Remus said, amused.

"No, he's the arse," Lily explained.

"I heard that!"

The door shut behind James.

"Good, he'll be gone for a while," Lily said. She waved her wand at the beads and sent them around the tree, then the garland. Then she waved her wand at the box of ornaments. "Oh, drat," she grumbled when the first lifted out of the box. "They don't have hooks on them."

Sirius grabbed a candycane-shaped ornament with a felt loop at the top and moved to put it on the tree.

Lily shook her head. "They all get hooks," she said.

"It doesn't need one," Sirius said. He stuck his finger through the loop and let it dangle. "See?"

She shook her head. "They all get hooks."

Sirius stared at her, then sighed. "Women."

"Can't live with 'em," Remus started, putting a hook on an ornament.

"Can't live without pictures of 'em naked," Sirius finished.

Lily glared at him. "You're fired from working in here. Go help James."

"Ha!" Peter laughed, pointing his finger at Sirius. "Ha ha! You're fired, Sirius, did you hear that?"

Sirius looked indignant. "What?! You can't fire me."

She put her hands on her hips and gave him The Look.

He nodded meekly. "I'll go help James."

"Good boy."

He changed into his Animagus form and wagged his tail, then hopped onto the couch, ignoring Lily's protest, and went out to the kitchen door, which he could open in this form.

"Insane," Remus agreed, putting a tiny little bell at the bottom of the tree.

Lily huffed. "Little ornaments go at the top, Remus."

He frowned. "Why?"

"So it looks balanced," she said as though it were obvious.

He gave her a puzzled look. "But then I'll have to stand up." At her look, he quickly pulled out his wand. "I'll work around it," he said quickly.

"No more magic," Lily said. "The only reason I put the garland and cranberries up like that is because Sirius would have made a mess otherwise."

Remus looked uneasy.

Peter stood up with the tree top and stretched.

"No!" Lily gasped. "That's the last thing to go up," she said, snatching it from Peter. "It's tradition."

He reached for the candy-canes instead.

"Those go up towards the end too," Lily said, stopping him.

He tried to step around the pile of ornaments that Remus had piled up in front of him, intent on trying for the icicles.

He didn't do so well.

_Crunch_.

Lily shut her eyes tightly.

The two men exchanged looks. "Um..." said Peter.

"We're gonna go help James," Remus finished. "Unless you-"

"Go." Lily said, pointing to the door.

They went.

Quickly.

Lily waited until she heard the closet shut, and then heard the front door shutting.

Then she opened her eyes and pulled out her wand. "_Reparo_," she said, pointing at the ornament. "_Wingardium Leviosa,_" she said next, and levitated all of the hooked ornaments up onto the tree. She pointed to the hooks, and then the ornaments. Hooks were attached to the ornaments. She levitated those up, put up the glass icicles she'd gotten from her mother after the last Christmas, and then the candy-canes. Then she put the star on top, smiled, and went into the kitchen to relax for a while before she had to call them in for dinner.

**Happy****Christmas****Happy****Christmas****Happy****Christmas**

James watched his friends come out and fought a smirk. _I'm on to your game, Lil_, he thought, and confirmed his suspicious when he glanced in the window and saw Lily using magic to finish the tree.

_Two can play at that game. And so can five._

Sirius was grumbling as he fixed the lights he'd just recently seen sabotaged. "Okay," he said. "Peter, plug this in over by the door."

Peter caught the end of the lights and plugged it in. Nothing happened. "Damn Muggles anyway," James muttered. "Okay. That means we have to test the lights. All of them."

The foursome looked at the pile of lights in the snow. And James led the way in plopping down. "My bum is going to be very wet by the time we're done," he said.

Sirius sat next to him. "Yep."

Remus sat, and then reluctantly, Peter did too. They all plugged a string of lights into the extension cord. "Thanks Jim," Sirius said. "This is how I wanted to spend Christmas."

James ignored him.

"Getting a wet butt," Peter complained.

"Getting yelled at by your wife," Remus added.

"Getting kicked out into the cold," Sirius added. "Of course, you must be used to this."

"She's putting on a show," James said, shrugging. "Besides. At least being married means regular sex."

"I hate you," Peter grumbled.

The others snickered. "Don't worry, Pete," Sirius said. "James only gets it when Lily's in the mood."

James made a face at him while the other three laughed. "My wife is always in the mood for me," he said.

"To go away and sleep on the couch, maybe," Sirius said in reply. "And you're perfectly willing to put on your little skirt and let her wear the pants in the family."

James rolled his eyes. "You're just jealous because I've got the legs for it."

Sirius winced. "Oh, now I've got a mental pictures that I can't get rid of."

James smirked at him and went back to testing light bulbs.

They worked in a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

It got boring fast. And cold.

Sirius was the first to give up and lay back in the snow, unconcerned by the cold, staring up at the sky that was almost dark with only a quarter moon out.

"So," Sirius said. "What are we going to do to make it up to her?"

"Exactly what she told us," James assured him. "Decorate the yard."

"I see several snowmen in the future," Remus said. "Four very tall snow men, and one very short snow woman."

Lily was very sensitive about how tall she was- because she wasn't. Peter, the shortest of all of them, even managed to tower over her. (Though tower was a generous word- she was his height when she wore heels.)

James nodded. "And several ice sculptures."

Sirius grinned. "I'll do that part."

"Perhaps a rather large snow fort?" Peter suggested. "Like the one we built during the last holiday at Hogwarts? With the towers and the moat, of course."

"Very good," James said, nodded. "You can handle that, I'm sure. I'll get the lights and then help out with the rest."

"Right-o then," Sirius said, standing and dusting the snow off. He craned his neck to see inside the neighbor's house. "Doesn't look like anyone's peeking."

James took out his wand and aimed at their house. He cast an illusion charm that would make it look as though there was nothing going on at their house.

"Now we know they won't," Remus said. "Don't forget to take it off later."

James shrugged. "Maybe- they're rude, and I don't like them. Maybe I'll leave it."

"Ministry's gonna get ya," Remus sang under his breath as he stood up. He pulled out his wand and adjusted his scarf so that it was over his shoulder. "Very well," he said. "'Ver shall 've start? Ah, yez... 'Vith 'ze Sirius one so zat if it iz 'orrible, 'zer shall be no vay of telling."

Sirius leaned over to grab a handful of snow and chucked it at him.

Remus dodged it, and it hit Peter, who was finally getting to his feet. "Hey!" Peter cried in protest and launched a handful back at him.

For a few moments, it looked as though it would develop into a good old fashioned snow fight, then James got out his wand and stopped them from throwing any more.

"Work before play, boys," James said. "If we take too long, Lily will be done with dinner and come out to get us."

"Can't have that," Sirius agreed. "She wouldn't like her little snowperson. All right. Now. I think I want to start out with..." He trailed off and began forming ice sculptures by the front door, so that they could be seen right away once someone was outside, but not as well from inside the house.

The other three went off to work on their creations, and when Lily looked out the window a while later, knowing exactly what they were up to, she laughed as a section of the snow fort collapsed on all four of them.

**Happy****Christmas****Happy****Christmas****Happy****Christmas**

The bed sank and Lily murmured something unintelligible into James's chest. James opened his eyes lazily and watched as Padfoot sat down at Lily's hip. "You're asking for trouble, you know," he said softly, playing with his wife's hair.

The dog shrugged and nudged Lily's shoulder with his wet nose. Her eyes flew open. "Sirius Black, get that ice away from me now!"

Sirius sat back, tilting his head to the side. James chuckled. "That's Padfoot, Lil. His nose, not ice."

She made a face, giving James an irritated look. "He's cold."

Padfoot hopped off the bed and changed into Sirius, wearing a pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt, and big furry bear slippers that were growling and grumbling about the early hour. "It's already seven thirty," he said impatiently. "We've been up for an hour waiting for you."

"Exactly an hour," Remus said, joining them in the doorway. "We wouldn't let him in here a minute earlier."

James rolled his eyes and looked down at Lily. "I told you we should have had Christmas alone."

She moaned. "And I bet we can't get rid of them next year, either."

"She's smart," Sirius said, pretending to be shocked.

Lily sighed. James sat up and slid out of bed, relieved that he'd remembered to make Lily get dressed again before they went to sleep. Well, at least somewhat covered up with her negligee. Or was it peignoir? he could never remember- he had a one track mind when it came to dealing with Lily and those little things, and the track had nothing to do with what it was called.

He grabbed his t-shirt from the floor and tugged it on over his head, then grabbed Lily's dressing gown from the chair and sat down on the bed next to her. "Time to get up, sweetheart."

"Yeah, sweetheart," said Sirius. "Get up."

"Sirius, get out of here," James said, no bite in his tone. "We haven't had our morning romp yet, so Lily's a bit cranky."

"Oh!" said Sirius. "Can I watch?"

Lily rolled over, keeping the covers pulled up over herself. "Sirius. Get out now, before I hex you. You too, Remus. And Peter, too, wherever he is." She looked back at James. "There's a tray in the refrigerator of some cinnamon rolls. The directions are on top of the recipe box."

"No morning romp?" James asked mournfully.

Lily gave him an irritated look.

He sighed and stood up again, and went to do as she requested.

Not too long after, Lily joined them, dressed in slacks and green sweater and wearing slippers- the floppy-eared bunny ones that James had gotten her last Christmas, of course. Their noses twitched as the cinnamon wafted through the room towards her. Lily smiled in greeting to them. "Happy Christmas," she said.

"Happy Christmas!" Sirius said, jumping up. He hurried over to her and gave her a tight hug. "You look radiant this morning, Lily. Can I help you with breakfast? Would you like some tea? Warm enough? Too warm?"

She stared at him. "We told him you were in charge of when we opened presents," James explained, not looking back. He pushed the tray of cinnamon rolls in the oven and said the spell to warm it up.

Sirius shrugged as he finally released her. "Actually, that was only part of it. I wanted to get a grope in before James was awake enough to try and stop me."

James gave him an irritated look. Lily rolled her eyes. "It's Christmas, boys. Behave."

"Good luck with that," said Peter, wiping his eyes to clear the sleep from them. "Really."

"Can we open presents now?" Sirius asked.

Lily sighed. "All right. Who's passing them out?"

Sirius hurried out in the other room and plopped down in a chair near the tree. "I'll do it," Remus said, looking amused at Sirius's antics.

"We shouldn't have let him have coffee," Peter said.

"You gave him coffee?" James hissed, pausing mid-hug with his wife.

Remus and Peter exchanged looks, then hurried out to the Christmas tree.

Lily chuckled and kissed James, and they went out to join the chaos.

"I don't think it's fair," Sirius said as he watched Remus sorting through the pile of gifts. "With you two married, you only buy one gift from both of us. We've got to buy each of you a separate gift."

"Well, there's an easy out for that," Lily said. "Two, really. Get married. Or, buy us a joint gift."

Sirius made a face. "And what is there that both of you would like? I'd rather spend the money and complain about it."

Remus began passing out gifts, purposely shoving Sirius's to the side.

Sirius gave him an irritated look. "Oh, you're hilarious."

"Save that one for later," Lily said when Remus reached for a big bag. "It goes last."

He shrugged and began passing out other gifts.

It took them half an hour to go through the stack of presents, and they were all quite pleased with what they found.

"Wait a minute," she said when Peter started to stand up to get more tea. Lily pulled the bag over to her and opened it up, digging through it and pulling out four similarly sized packages and tossing them to each of the men around her. "All right," she said. "Open as you will."

Looking amused, they did so, and all pulled out white t-shirts.

James turned his around. "'I'm going to be a Daddy'," he read out loud. He stared at it for a moment, then dropped the shirt. "Lil?" he asked uncertainly.

"'No thanks to me, I'm an Uncle'," Sirius read, and saw Remus and Peter holding identical shirts.

It clicked with all four of them at once. Sirius whooped with joy and James grabbed Lily and kissed her. Remus and Peter settled for grinning and watching the couple happily.

"That's great," Peter said.

"When's my nephew due?" Sirius demanded.

"Our nephew," Remus corrected.

Lily only had eyes for her husband. "In July or August."

James's grin was huge, and one of his hands was already pushing her robe apart so he could feel her stomach. "A baby," he said, kissing her again before shifting awkwardly so he was eye level with her stomach. "Hey there, little guy," he said.

Lily laughed.

Sirius made his way through the piles of wrapping paper and ribbon to join them at the couch, and leaned down to hug Lily and kiss her cheek before joining James and trying to feel Lily's stomach for any sign of the baby.

Lily pushed their hands away. "You can't find her yet," she said. "It'll be a while before you can feel her."

James reluctantly sat up. "When did you find out?" James asked. "How long have you known. I didn't even think- in July? We're going to have a baby in July?"

Lily smiled. "I've only known for about a week, and it's been horrible trying to keep it from you." She pulled the bag up on the couch next to her and handed him a thick book and a piece of paper. "We haven't talked about baby names before, but those are a few I liked."

"You've got months to figure that out," Sirius said, reluctantly allowing Lily her personal space. "We're celebrating." He quickly slipped out of his pajama shirt and pulled on the new t-shirt, tugging it down with pride. "Whose parents are you telling first? I'm voting for Jim's folks."

"Don't start trouble," James said. When Lily was busy giving Sirius a Look, James nodded confidently, certain that he'd get his way.

Shortly thereafter, Lily and James were on their way to join the others in the kitchen. James followed behind his wife, holding her hand. He nearly ran into her when she paused in front of the window.

He peered over her shoulder, looking at the snow sculptures they'd made. There was Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs and... Uh oh.

"James Harold Potter," she said crossly, turning to glare at him. "And the rest of you. What exactly is that short snowperson doing out there?"

Sirius quickly proved why he was James's best friend and laughed cheerfully. "It's the baby, of course."

"Yeah," said James, rather weakly.

Sirius casually- or so he thought- stepped in front of the window so she couldn't see. "I just put it out there, isn't it cute?"

Lily didn't look entirely convinced.

James hurried over to her. "Come on, love, let's get breakfast and then we can go out and show you."

"All right," she agreed reluctantly.

Sirius smiled innocently and waited until they were in the kitchen. Then he grabbed Peter. "Stall for me- I've got to go get rid of the sign that says "Lily" before she kills us."

"Go then!" Peter said, and went to stall.

Unfortunately, Sirius forgot to take down the large embarrassing picture of Lily at a school play from when she was younger, dressed up like a sheep. They had enlarged it and put it on the roof, with lights shining on it so that everyone would see.

Despite having to avoid several pots and pans being thrown at them by said lamb, they managed to have a very happy Christmas.

Like this fic? Want to get involved in a challenge? Check out the Lazy MWPP Writers mailing list! Link in my profile. :o)  
Merry Christmas and have a wonderful New Year!


End file.
